Adipose Algae
Adipose Algae (アディポス アルゲー Adiposu Arugee) is a special type of red algae that blooms in the Poison Rain Meadows of Area 8. It very rarely blooms, but when it does it's because some beast accidentally wandered into the deadly area. This is because Adipose Algae get the fat they need to reproduce from these dead beasts. They live in the poison puddles that form in the meadows and are unicellular since they live in such small areas. Recently, they have been found in Poison Tide, supposedly carried over from Poison Rain Meadows by a beast. It has, in comparison to it's original habitat, thrived in the Poison Tide, even changing from a unicellular algae to a colonial one. It is nicknamed Lardweed due to the fat in the cells as well as the fact that algae is sometimes known as seaweed. This ingredient isn't well known, never showing up in the market. This is due to the fact that's it's only found in Poison Tide, and even there it's rarely seen. Appearance Adipose Algae are a type of large celled rhodophyte (red algae). The Poison Tide variety is a colonial type of algae that divides in random planes, forming irregular shaped colonies. These cells are large enough to be seen with the naked eye, but not much larger than that. They are completely phototrophic and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a'' and ''c, as well as phycobilins, resulting in a red appearance. This red colour though is only seen in a relatively small portion of the cell, which is pushed to the edge in a small circular area. The rest of the cell is filled to the brim with fatty acids that they acquire from dead animals. The fatty acids that they obtain from other animals gets broken down, then rebuilt into trigycerides. This fat is an off white colour. Behavior The fat in the Adipose Algae isn't used in any way for energy, and is thus not said to be eaten by the protist. Instead, the fat is used for two things. The first is to solve the problem that all phototrophic algae face, staying inside the photosynthetic zone of the water. Because fat is less dense than water, it allows the algae to float on top of the water without expending energy with flagella. The second is to allow the algae to actually survive in Poison Tide, allowing it to claim a niche that almost no other organism can survive in, giving it almost no predators. The fat does this because it is hydrophobic, which doesn't dissolve in water, while the poisons in the water are hydrophilic, which do dissolve in water, but won't dissolve in fat. Because of this, the poisons can't actually get inside the fatty cells, thus allowing them to survive the deadly environment. Adipose Algae also has a long life span, as it never knows when it will be able to reproduce. This is because it needs to double the fat it is carrying whenever it divides so that the two resulting cells will have enough fat to survive the toxic environment, and the only way for it to do this is to gain fat from an outside source. As Food The fat that is stored in the Adipose Algae cells is a really high quality lard that has been compared leaf lard. This can be used in cooking to make crisp pie crusts, deep frying foods, or even as a simple replacement for butter. The only problem is that the lard needs to be rendered. The easiest approach to do so is to do a simple dry-rendering by heating it in a pan. This method is the easiest, but it yields a lower quality of lard, as the rest of the cell actually stays in the lard. This isn't harmful in anyway, as the cell is in no way poisonous, it will just make an impure lard that is not as good. The other way to render the lard is by a wet-rendering process. This way is much more difficult and will make it a special preparation ingredient. As most chefs do not have the skill, or possibly even the equipment, to pull it off, they usually tend to choose the easier approach. Either way the fat gets rendered though, the algae needs to be thoroughly washed beforehand in order to remove any and all poison off the outside from the waters it was taken out of. Special Preparation Ingredient In order to wet-render the lard, it needs to be done in a large centrifuge that will separate the different components of the cell. This is a difficult process that requires the chef to spin the centrifuge at precise speeds, with different speeds being required to removed different parts of the cell. After one part of the cell has been separated, the chef must first remove that portion of the cell before continuing on. The Adipose Algae cells aren't very complex, and thus don't have many components that need to be removed, but it can be especially difficult to actually remove the components that are there. The hardest to remove, as well as the last to be removed, is the cell membrane. It requires the most precise speed with the least amount of room for error to remove. This method was recently discovered by Kagura. Trivia Behind The Scenes * This ingredient is based off of adipose cells along with colonial algae. * Because the fat in this algae is lard, which comes from pigs, the author chose for it to be a type of red algae, since pork is a red meat. * If you would like to use this ingredient, just let the author know that you will be doing so on his talk page. Category:SuBash Category:Original Ingredient Category:Ingredient Category:Special Preparation Ingredient Category:Free Use